France host Italy in Round 3 of the Six Nations in Lille on Sunday and Les Bleus are firm favourites to take another step towards a possible Grand Slam.
France v Italy, Sunday 22nd February, Lille, KO 17:10 (South African time)
Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU)
Assistant Referees: Luke Pearce (RFU), Eoghan Cross (IRFU)
TMO: Olly Hodges (IRFU)
Weather Forecast - Lille
France:
France have made a perfect start to their defence of the 6N title with 2 bonus point wins for the maximum 10 log points and they finished Round 2 with 4 points worth of daylight over second placed Scotland.
Les Bleus ran in 8 tries in their 54-12 hiding of Wales in Cardiff in Round 2, covering a handicap that had settled at 31.5 points. Gailleton (2), Bielle-Biarrey (11), Brau-Boirie (15), Jalibert (39), Marchand (44), Attissogbe (49,58) and Ollivon (61) were the ty scorers and Ramos landed with 7 conversions in a one sided contest.
France came into their Round 1 clash with Ireland in Paris as favourites, trading at around -13.5 points on the main handicap line. They scored the first 29 points of the game and went on to win 36-14, scoring 3 tries in the first half, one at the start of the second and another at the death to secure the maximum 5 log points. Louis Bielle-Biarrey scored 2 tries and the others came from Matthieu Jalibert, Charles Ollivon and Theo Attissogbe with Thomas Ramos landing 4 conversions and a penalty.
In the Six Nations outright betting Hollywoodbets have France priced up as 1 / 10 favourites to retain the title and 6/10 to complete the Grand Slam
Results and Fixtures: R1 Ireland (h) won 36-14, R2 Wales (a) won 54-12, R3 Italy (h), R4 Scotland (a), R5 England (h)
Italy:
Italy have a record of 1 win and 1 defeat and they have picked up 5 log points so far, good enough for fourth place behind England on points difference.
In Round 2 Italy threatened to surprise Ireland in Dublin, leading 10-5 at half time but they eventually went down 20-13 and came away with a losing bonus point. Nicotera scored their only try of the game towards the end of the first half which Paolo Garbisi converted and also landed a penalty. After Ireland pulled clear another Garbisi penalty put Italy back in range and they were threatening at the death but unable to add another score.
Italy were 8.5 point underdogs for their clash with Scotland in Rome and they didn’t need any of it as they came out on top 18-15. Tries in the first 13 minutes from Louis Lynagh and Tommaso Menoncello put them in control, Paolo Garbisi landed one conversion and a couple of penalties either side of half time and although Scotland reduced the deficit with plenty of time remaining Italy had done enough.
In the Six Nations outright betting Hollywoodbets have Italy priced up as 100/1 shots to win the title and they are 11/2 to finish with the wooden spoon.
Results and Fixtures: R1 Scotland (h) won 18-15, R2 Ireland (a) lost 20-13, R3 France (a), R4 England (h), R5 Wales (a)
Recent Head to Head
Feb 2025 6N Rome Italy 24-73 France
Feb 2024 6N Lille France 13-13 Italy
Oct 2023 RWC Lyon France 60-7 Italy
Feb 2023 6N Rome Italy 24-29 France
Feb 2022 6N Paris France 37-10 Italy
Team News
France (updated): 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 2 Julien Marchand, 3 Dorian Aldegheri, 4 Thibaud Flament, 5 Emmanuel Meafou, 6 François Cros, 7 Oscar Jegou, 8 Anthony Jelonch, 9 Antoine Dupont (c), 10 Thomas Ramos, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 12 Fabien Brau-Boirie, 13 Émilien Gailleton, 14 Gaël Dréan, 15 Théo Attissogbe
Replacements: 16 Peato Mauvaka, 17 Rodrigue Neti, 18 Georges-Henri Colombe, 19 Charles Ollivon, 20 Mickaël Guillard, 21 Lenni Nouchi, 22 Baptiste Serin, 23 Pierre-Louis Barassi
Italy: 15 Ange Capuozzo, 14 Louis Lynagh, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 12 Leonardo Marin, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Alessandro Fusco, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Manuel Zuliani, 6 Michele Lamaro (captain), 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Niccolo Cannone, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16 Pablo Dimcheff, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Giosue Zilocchi, 19 Federico Ruzza, 20 Riccardo Favretto, 21 David Odiase, 22 Alessandro Garbisi, 23 Paolo Odogwu
The Betting
Updated 20 Feb 16h12
France -27.5 points
Italy +28.5 points
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
This Weeks Bets
Posted 20 Feb 16h15
Money has come for Italy in from +30.5 to +27.5 - the panel on last nights betting show are not surprised - click here to listen
Total points is 57.5 and there has been some differeing reports as to whether the roof will be open or closed. There is bad weather about and Italy would prefer it open.
My bet(s) on this game will be posted Saturday or latest Sunday morning
Betting Update
Posted 22 Feb 08h48
Matthieu Jalibert is a late withdrawal for France and Ramos moves into the 10 jersey.
The roof will be closed.
The Italy handicap is in to +24.5 on the back of the late team change however there is still +27.5 at Betxchange at the time of posting.
Points is 57.5 and I am trying to find out at what point the roof is closed because it is raining pretty much all day?
Bet(s) to follow
Unders the Call!
Posted 22 Feb 09h30
BET: 2 units under 58.5 points at 9/10 at Hollywoodbets
The roof will be closed but I am still going unders in Lille. I expect Italy to slow things down when they can and am hoping there will be moisture in the pitch from prior to the roof closing (this is speculative)* and I also think the late change to the French team will disrupt them a bit.
*Have since received confirmation roof has been closed for a few days but still happy with the play.
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